环境RNA技术在水生生态系统生物多样性监测中的应用

随着人类活动在全球范围内的不断增强，水生生态系统的生物多样性丧失，群落结构发生巨大变化。因此，进行准确可靠的生物多样性监测来确定目标区域的物种丰度和群落结构对生态保护和资源可持续利用至关重要。环境DNA技术（eDNA）作为一种非入侵性的新手段，正在迅速发展，然而，eDNA技术易出现假阳性，从而导致实时生物多样性监测不准确的现象仍然普遍存在。与eDNA技术相比，环境RNA技术（eRNA）的快速降解使得它具有减少eDNA监测结果假阳性的潜力。本文概述了eRNA技术在水生生态系统的生物多样性监测中的可行性，主要从eRNA技术在水生生态系统中的可检测性和提高检测分辨率的潜力两个方面来介绍；综述了eRNA技术目前在水生生态系统生物多样性监测方面的研究进展；指出了eRNA技术目前存在的问题并分析了未来的研究方向。本文对未来将eRNA技术实际应用于水生生态系统的生物多样性监测、生态保护和资源可持续利用具有一定的参考价值。

Application of environmental RNA technology in biodiversity monitoring of the aquatic ecosystem

The continuous increase in human activities worldwide has caused a loss of aquatic biodiversity and a dramatic change in the aquatic community structure. Therefore, accurate and reliable biodiversity monitoring is essential for ecological conservation and sustainable resource use to determine species abundance and community structure in target areas. Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology is a new and noninvasive monitoring method that is rapidly developing. However, eDNA technology is prone to false positives, which lead to inaccurate real-time biodiversity monitoring that is still widespread. Owing to its rapid degradation, environmental RNA (eRNA) is potentially less prone to false positives than eDNA. This paper summarized the feasibility of eRNA in biodiversity monitoring of the aquatic ecosystem, primarily focusing on its detectability and potential to improve detection resolution in the aquatic ecosystem. Furthermore, the current research progress in the field of eRNA was also summarized. Finally, the current challenges associated with using eRNA were discussed, and a possible future research direction was proposed. This paper can provide a valuable reference for the practical application of eRNA in biodiversity monitoring, ecological conservation, and sustainable use of resources in aquatic ecosystems in the future.